There are many electronic applications today that are critical for the maintenance of personal safety and security, and whose undetected failure may pose grave risks for those who depend upon them. Such systems may encompass many different types of electronic applications, and may include burglar alarms, fire alarms, motors, pumps, valve controls, etc. An operational system may have a contact switch that may be closed to activate the system, or be opened to deactivate the system. System failure can occur through the result of a short circuit or an open circuit, and the failure may continue unabated and pose a threat, without notification to the party at risk.
For example, a fire alarm at a business or college dorm in a major metropolitan location may fail and send a signal to the local fire department, which responds by rushing to the scene, only to determine that being summoned was the result of a false alarm due to a short. In many cities and regions, the fire department charges the firm or school a fee for the unnecessary response. Unfortunately, faults in many such alarms are typically only detected under these kinds of circumstances, or worse yet, in an actual emergency, where the failure of the device may conversely result in no notice to emergency responders, so that the response may not occur at all, or only after a Good Samaritan personally makes a call to summon help.
The invention disclosed herein provides notifications to a receiver that is mountable in a convenient location for personnel to routinely monitor the status of the system, where the notification may be for a switch contact being normally open, normally closed, short circuited, or failed due to an open circuit. In addition, the invention disclosed herein provides notification that the connection providing remote monitoring of the system status is broken, and that monitoring is therefore no longer even occurring.